My Amazing Charlie

My gosh, how time flies. Charlie, you are FIVE today. The days are long, but the years too short. Joyful, full of life, quirky, energetic, funny, smart...so smart, so grown up in our house and yet so young everywhere else. You are my entertainer...a leader, NOT a follower. Every day you teach me...I am constantly stumped by you and the amazing things you do. You teach me over and over that you, I can not control... nor can I control your world.


You woke up today refusing to turn five because you haven't had your party. Nope, not five until your friends, family, cake AND rocket ship were all present. What do you do with that?? Everyone that called got a "thank you" and an "I'm ALMOST FIVE."



Yesterday you told me if you ever had another brother, you would name him "Slim."

You can never get enough "Papa" and want to visit all the time...usually asking to ride Herbie or the Kabota.

You crave contact...you still love to be held, hugged, cuddled, and kissed. I hope this never goes away!

You love your brother more than anything else in the world. You'll tell anyone that bugs him--"LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!!"
You are the typical bossy big brother...but special in that you fight for him to be "all mine!", you are the best at making him laugh...you both are inseperable. You love him and he adores you.

Your strength amazes me...you have overcome SO much and come so far. I feel that together you and I with God's help, healing, and direction, have overcome so many of the roadblocks placed in front of us. It seems that they keep coming, though. Your life has been and will continue to be a constant testimony.

I have cherished every moment of our five years together and I pray for you. I pray for your salvation..that God will touch your heart in a very special way, for your health...that I may watch you grow into a man with a family of your own, and for your happiness...that you will find peace and contentment wherever you may go.

I love you love you love you...each day more than the last.

The First Wedding

You may remember the blog entitled "Ring Bearers"...where I was TERRIFIED of the top hats they got to wear AND even more, the bench they would be sitting on.

Nutshell...The wedding was incredible and the boys were amazing. A wise person gave me the idea to buy them something they REALLY want. Let them pick it out and buy it. So we did that. They were dying for rockets...so that's what they got. Full size, 500 ft in the air rockets. They were thrilled. We then took a picture of each rocket, taped it to the park bench. We then told them that if their bottoms stayed on the park bench through the ENTIRE wedding, we would go shoot their rockets. If they did NOT, we would return them to the local Walmart.

OKOK, some might call it bribery...I like to think of it as setting goals and getting rewards. C'mon child experts, what do you think?? Is it bribery?? No...I don't want to know.

Here is a pic in their suits...

and their hats...

and with Ben, the groom...


When they saw Sarah, who was BEAUTIFUL...they thought she was a princess. They couldn't speak. it was so sweet...

Here they are posed with Sarah

Their were NUTS before the wedding. They raced down the aisle at rehearsal, they played chase before the wedding. I stayed on them and tried EVERYTHING and felt like this huge loser mom who couldn't control her kids. We gave them their hats only half an hour before the wedding so that they would not be messed up. They pulled them down over their eyes, threw them in the air...total hooligans.

I thought I would puke as they started down the aisle.


But it was priceless...Charlie, who my sister calls "the entertainer," hit that aisle and stopped to bow and tip his hat at everyone. Zach, the "Repeat" of "Pete and Repeat" started doing the exact same thing. It took them minutes to get down the aisle because they stopped so many times to bow and tip their hats. It was unplanned, unrehearsed, and perfect.
These pics are a play by play...







They did well on the benches (we sat 2 inches behind them) and got to shoot off their rockets a few days later. (That will be the next blog!)

pee in the nose

Zach peed up his nose Friday night. yes, it's true.
He was on a potty at a restaurant so instead of getting COMPLETELY naked to pee (like we do at home), we just pulled his pants down to his knees. He leaned down to check to see how everything was going and came up snorting! He had forgotten to "tuck" it down and so his pee went straight out about the time he checked on it. never have I laughed so hard.

Alien Abduction

I think Chuck was abducted by aliens last night . He disappeared for a few hours...when he returned, he was covered with these.

ALIEN HICKIES!!!

Seriously...if you are ever face down getting a massage and someone mentions "Chinese suction cups"...run like hell! We got a massage last night and BOTH of us returned home with these. Chuck's are worse than mine...but I was planning on wearing a low-back blouse to a wedding this weekend. I will NOT pull a Gwenyth Paltrow.

The lady massaging me was determined that I needed these...but even worse, she also kept pooting. NOT a poot that can be dismissed, but she "ripped it"...and then would say something like "boy, I sure am musical tonight" or "wow, there I go again." I was mortified, disgusted, and amazed. I was NOT relaxed.

What a funny picture, unbelievable story... not to be forgotten.
By the way--why a massage?? Chuck ran in his first marathon!!! To be continued...

BIG fun, Texas style...a tribute to YQ

We went to Austin, TX on the weekend of January 28th for my 2nd half-marathon. Actually, that was a farce. It was a great excuse to go see our friend Yvonne.

Yvonne Queralt is an amazing person, one of the dearest friends that Chuck and I together have shared.. An individual like her is a gem, a rarity. She comes from an amazing family, steeped in tradition and faith, and wisdom. Oh man, the wisdom that each member of her family contains is astounding.

She walked into our lives SOON after we were married and demanded attendance at THE Texas/ Arkansas football game that had been schedulesd 6 years from then. "no matter where you are in life or how many kids you have." Being married for 3 months, Chuck went pale at the plural "kids." Of course, she was right.

You will NEVER find a better host. She opens her home and her life and makes you a part of her family. Chuck and I adore her mom, Mrs. Delia (or mama Q), and have really enjoyed getting to know her brother Mark's family.

She has always said, "Your closest friends are the ones that you waste the most time with." That was never truer that this weekend. We did SO much with her while we did lots of nothing. Does that make any sense? Not to those who have never been busy doing nothing. We loved every minute with her.

She and Chuck share so much history...for 4 years they worked together (or wasted time together?!)...but they shared so much more than that. There were so SO SO many laughs. Chuck says that Yvonne has the lowest threshold for laughter that he has ever known, making it a blessing just to be around her. Life in residency wasn't always fun, it wasn't always easy, it wasn't always good even...but there was a bond that you could always count on-a constancy on a crazy world. She and Chuck share many many more medical memories and actually are good at making me feel a part of THEIR medical family. :)

We were able to catch up, pick up where we left off...and continue. The food was amazing, the margaritas to die for, and the weather was perfect (including the rainstorm that killed the power the first morning so we HAD to sleep in!) We loved it.

The first full day there was the rainstorm and we stayed in our pj's visiting until AFTER NOON! We then went and got my race packet and drove the course so I could see it. THEN we went to Town Lake in downtown Austin. Yvonne is the most athletic person we've ever known (she's a runner, biker, swimmer, and has been know to do a triathalon per week)...and she has recently taken up CREW. To us rednecks, it is rowing. She took us kayaking on the lake where we enjoyed the peace and watched the sunset. Wow.


This is a pic of the 3 of us. Do you know how hard it is for 3 people IN kayaks to lean together for a self portrait?! Tricky.











Chuck and I with downtown Austin in the background.













Yvonne and the sunset...














THE sunset. Wow.










Chuck and I before the race started. Yes, it was still dark!



The bikes that Chuck and Yvonne rode.


It was the coolest ever...Yvonne had the idea for her and Chuck to ride the race course backwards until they found me. It was brilliant! It kept me running and gave me something to do.

The race...where I set a personal record. Think it might be because it was all downhill??


They found me at mile 7 where Chuck RAN with me. They found me again at 9 and mile 10. He ran up the biggest hill of the race with me. It made the mile 10 WALL seem ok.


The man with THREE kids in a jogging stroller. Ages 7, 5, and 3. If that wasn't enough, he also had a CASE of Coors LIGHT in the bottom.

I LOVED the race. the most amazing part is that Yvonne surprised both Chuck and me with a full body massage at her gym. We were completely shocked...and it was incredible. It actually prevented me from being sore.

This is the view from our post race dinner. I could never have imagined a prettier view...better company, or a more fun trip.




I have yet to mention Rose...another highlight of the trip. Rose (short for Rose Bowl, since TX won) is YQ's new puppy. She is beautiful, sweet, and FULL of energy. A true puppy--we had so much fun with her.






Lastly...when Charlie was born, Yvonne claimed that he would play linebacker for TX. She may be right...but it may be Zach.